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Did you know the Greeks invented the telescope more than 2000 years ago? This
is one of the many provocative conclusions of Bob Temple’s The Crystal
Sun, a thoroughly researched study of the ancient science of optics. Temple
reviews the massive archaeological and literary evidence for the use of lenses
in antiquity—for burning, magnification and correcting short sight. Some of his
other conclusions are bound to frighten myopic traditionalists, but the idea
that Galileo was upstaged must now be taken seriously. Published by Century/
Random House, £20, ISBN 0712678883.